Visual Culture: Lauryn Hill Is Spotlighting Haitian Art in Brooklyn

Though she has no roots in the region herself (that we know of), Lauryn Hill has long been a patron of Caribbean art and culture. As one-third of The Fugees, she was the lone non-Haitian in a group that brought the Caribbean immigrant experience to the world, creating a new lane for soulful hip-hop. As a solo artist, she recorded much of her debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, at Tuff Gong Studios with some of Jamaica’s top musicians, including Earl “Chinna” Smith and Dean Fraser, taking inspiration from reggae and dancehall on tracks like “Lost Ones.”

More recently, she has surrounded herself with Caribbean performers in her current touring band, which includes Belize-born DJ Rampage and Guyanese dancer/singer Shakira Marshall, among others. Next week, she heads to Tobago for the Tobago Jazz Experience, where she’ll perform on a bill that also features soca stars Destra, Patrice Roberts and Benjai, in her first solo appearance in Trinidad & Tobago.